Family Ties
by Shadows.Dance
Summary: They are a family, formed by friendships and not blood, love and not misplaced ideals to live up to, encouragement and not destruction. They are the Host Club. They are a family.


She has a family. She loves them, too. Her mother died a long time ago, and her father may be a bit atypical, but it is a family and it is _hers._

When she joined the Host Club, she joined with the intention of working off her debt and then walking away without a second glance. Instead she got herself a second family.

She is surprised by how much she cares about them. When it's time to leave and walk away without a second glance, she finds that she can't because somehow this family is now just as important to her as any blood relatives she may have.

It's eccentric and occasionally idiotic, strange and frequently annoying, but it is _hers._

- - - - -

He cares about his family. They are important to him, but his father doesn't fully understand him, and neither does Chika-chan. He was pressured into living a life that wasn't his own, but Tamaki changed that.

He has Takashi and Usa-chan, and he will always need them. But sometimes he wanted more.

Tamaki is the one that brought him to his real family. And his real family means more to him than anything else (except maybe cake).

- - - - -

He would never forget about his family. Satoshi looks up to him, and his mother and father care about him. He loves all of them. He has Mitsukuni, too, of course. His family is very important to him.

But somehow, after joining the Host Club, he finds that others have taken the place of his family. A second family, not joined by blood maybe, but a family, nonetheless.

He would die for his family.

- - - - -

He doesn't much care for his family. He rarely sees his parents anymore, but that doesn't matter. He has Kaoru. Kaoru is his brother, but he isn't family. 'Family' is his mother and father, aunts and uncles and cousins that can't even tell him from his twin. 'Family' doesn't matter to him. Kaoru matters.

And yet...

When they opened that door together, he and Kaoru weren't looking for family. They didn't _need _'family.' Maybe some fun, a new toy, perhaps, but certainly not 'family.' Just look at his real family — "Kaoru or are you Hikaru?" "What twin are you again?" "Kaoru dear — I'm sorry, Hikaru..."

So how did he end up with a family that he could come to care about? How did family come to matter to him like Kaoru?

- - - - -

He knew his parents loved them. Of course thy did, but that didn't change the fact — how much could one love their son if they couldn't even tell him apart from his twin.

He would be happy so long as he had Hikaru. They didn't need anybody else.

And then they opened that door and suddenly they were surrounded by something warm and not altogether unpleasant, something they had never experienced before except between each other ("I feel...warm...and happy...what is it?" "That's family, Kaoru.")

And suddenly it wasn't just _them _anymore and others could tell them apart and others _wanted _to know Kaoru-not-Hikaru or Hikaru-not-Kaoru and not just the-both-of-you.

Suddenly he had a family that mattered.

- - - - -

His family has never been one filled with "warmth" and "love." Families like that are silly and ridiculous and probably don't even exist.

He wants to impress his father. He wants to be named the heir to the Ohtori corporation but he doesn't want to step out of the boundaries he himself has drawn for himself as the third son.

He agreed to be a part of Tamaki's "Host club" because he assumed it would be like nearly every other plan of Tamaki's. A whimsical idea that Tamaki decides to drop the moment he loses interest.

Now though, it is no longer a "whimsical idea" of Tamaki's, and he cares more for this club than he cares to admit.

Family now means he has people that want to help him simply because they can, simply because they care about him (care? He doesn't need others to _care _about him. And yet he does. He longs for it just the same as anyone else, secretly and quietly without anyone else knowing. Dammit how does Tamaki _know?_)

Family is no longer quite as much of silly and ridiculous notion.

- - - - -

His mother is his family. His father is, too. His grandmother may not care for him at all, but he still longs for her acceptance.

It is a family, but a broken one.

And when he found the Host Club, he found he couldn't hold onto his heart and suddenly he had a complete family. A family that is full of life and love and happiness that fills him until he thinks his heart will burst at the mere idea of family.

He wouldn't give up his family for the world.

- - - - -

This is the Host Club.

This is a family.

- - - - -

_Hope you enjoyed it, please review :) All the switching between past tense and present tense was confusing though. If you spot any mistakes, please let me know._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club, the characters all belong to Bisco Hatori._


End file.
